
Gaza Hospital Says 21 Children Died From Malnutrition And Starvation In 72 Hours
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Gaza hospital says 21 children died from malnutrition and starvation in 72 hours
A Gaza hospital says 21 children have died from malnutrition in three days. On Monday, an Israeli strike reportedly hit a tent in Khan Younis, killing five people from the same family. On Sunday, a food convoy in northern Gaza came under attack, killing at least 80 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The incident marked one of the bloodiest days for aid-seekers since the war began more than 21 months ago. No breakthrough has been reached, and it remains uncertain whether any truce will bring lasting peace. The death toll has surpassed 59,000, with more than half of the victims being women and children. The Israeli military maintains that it is targeting militants and blames Hamas for operating from populated civilian areas. Israel has expanded evacuation orders to include relatively less-affected areas, indicating the possibility of new combat zones and further displacement of civilians. In another development, Israeli forces detained Dramswan al-Hwan, the acting director of Gaza’s hospitals and a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, on Monday.
Gaza City: Twenty-one children have died in Gaza over the past three days due to malnutrition and starvation, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital said on Tuesday, highlighting the deepening humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged territory.
“These deaths were recorded at hospitals in Gaza, including Al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah and Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis… over the past 72 hours,” Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya told reporters.
The grim toll comes amid warnings from the United Nations and international agencies that Israel’s military operations and restrictions on aid access are exacerbating conditions for civilians, especially children, in Gaza.
‘Extremely high’ risk of violations
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said Israeli actions in central Gaza carry an “extremely high” risk of serious breaches of international law. “These Israeli airstrikes and ground operations will invariably lead to further civilian deaths and destruction of civilian infrastructure,” he said. “Given the concentration of civilians in the area, and the means and methods of warfare employed by Israel until now, the risks of unlawful killings and other serious violations of international humanitarian law are extremely high.”
Israel continues to conduct military operations across the territory as it attempts to eliminate Hamas. The Israeli military maintains that it is targeting militants and blames Hamas for operating from populated civilian areas.
Aid access under fire
As famine conditions worsen, aid distribution efforts have turned deadly. On Sunday, a food convoy in northern Gaza came under attack, killing at least 80 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The incident marked one of the bloodiest days for aid-seekers since the war began more than 21 months ago.
The World Food Programme (WFP), in a rare condemnation of Israeli actions, said its convoy was fired upon. “The crowd surrounding its convoy ‘came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,’” the agency said in a statement. The organisation did not cite a specific number of deaths but described the incident as causing the loss of “countless lives”.
“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,” the WFP added. It said the attack took place despite Israeli assurances that armed forces would not interfere with humanitarian operations. “Shootings near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions must stop immediately.”
The Israeli military did not comment directly on the WFP’s accusations. However, military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said on X that soldiers were ordered “do not engage, do not shoot,” and posted a video purporting to show troops refraining from firing near civilians. The video has not been independently verified.
International media are not permitted access to Gaza, making verification of claims difficult.
Toll mounts as ceasefire talks stall
The situation continues to deteriorate despite ongoing ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. No breakthrough has been reached, and it remains uncertain whether any truce will bring lasting peace.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that the death toll has surpassed 59,000, with more than half of the victims being women and children. While the ministry operates under Hamas, the UN and other agencies treat it as the most reliable source of casualty data in the territory.
Meanwhile, Israel has expanded evacuation orders to include relatively less-affected areas, indicating the possibility of new combat zones and further displacement of civilians.
Violence continues throughout Gaza. On Monday, the Health Ministry said at least 13 people, including two women and five children, were killed in Israeli strikes. Two more died in central Gaza near the Netzarim corridor after being shot while waiting for aid trucks, according to Dr Abu Salmiya.
Overnight, an Israeli strike reportedly hit a tent in Khan Younis, killing five people from the same family. Additional strikes targeted tents in the Muwasi area and residential buildings in Gaza City. The Israeli military has not commented on these strikes.
In another development, Israeli forces detained Dr Marwan al-Hams, the acting director of Gaza’s field hospitals and a spokesperson for the Health Ministry. No reason for the arrest was given.
Regional fallout continues
The war in Gaza has also sparked conflict in other parts of the region. On Monday, the Israeli military struck the Hodeidah port in Yemen, targeting Houthi rebel infrastructure it claimed was used to receive weapons from Iran and launch missiles at Israel.
“The Houthis will pay heavy prices for launching missiles towards the state of Israel,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said. He added that parts of the port had previously been destroyed in earlier strikes.
The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Of those, about 50 remain in captivity, and fewer than half are believed to be alive.
(With inputs from AP)
Malnutrition kills 21 children in 72 hours as Gaza reels from hunger
At least 21 children have died from malnutrition and starvation over the past three days, a doctor says. The announcement came just hours after Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes had killed 15 people. The Roman Catholic church’s most senior cleric in the Holy Land said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “morally unacceptable” More than 59,000 people have been killed during the 21-month war on Gaza, according to authorities in the territory. The World Health Organization said Israel attacked its facilities amid expanding ground operations in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Monday. The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that “the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing” in Gaza, and that there were growing reports of children and adults with malnutrition. The Israeli military said later its troops “identified shots being fired toward them,” and responded toward the area from which the shooting originated.
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points.
“Twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip,” Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, told reporters.
The doctor said the deaths had been recorded at multiple hospitals during the past 72 hours.
The announcement came just hours after Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes had killed 15 people, after the World Health Organization said Israel attacked its facilities amid expanding ground operations.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli strikes on the al-Shati camp west of Gaza City killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 50.
Authorities in the territory say more than 59,000 people have been killed during the 21-month war.
Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during the conflict and the al-Shati camp – on the Mediterranean coast – hosts thousands of people displaced from the north in tents and makeshift shelters.
Raed Bakr, 30, lives with his three children and said he heard “a massive explosion” at about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday (10:40 p.m. GMT Monday), which blew their tent away.
“I felt like I was in a nightmare. Fire, dust, smoke and body parts flying through the air, dirt everywhere. The children were screaming,” Bakr, whose wife was killed last year, told AFP.
Reports of the latest death toll came as the Roman Catholic church’s most senior cleric in the Holy Land said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “morally unacceptable.”
“We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,” Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told a news conference in Jerusalem after visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.
New ground ops
His visit came after an Israeli army strike on the only Catholic church in Gaza killed three people last week, prompting Pope Leo XIV to condemn the “barbarity” of the war and the blind “use of force.”
The World Health Organization too sharply criticized the Israeli military.
The U.N. agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused troops of entering its staff residence, and forcing women and children to evacuate, as they handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday evening warned that “the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing” in Gaza, and that there were growing reports of children and adults with malnutrition.
The latest criticism of Israel came as its forces expanded ground operations in Deir el-Balah following intense shelling of the area in central Gaza on Monday.
The Israeli military had earlier ordered residents to leave, warning of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated.
The civil defence agency’s Bassal said two people were killed in Deir al-Balah.
The Israeli military said later its troops “identified shots being fired toward them in the Deir al-Balah area, and responded toward the area from which the shooting originated.”
“The (army) will not refrain from operating in areas where … activity threatens the security of the State of Israel,” it said in a statement.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were living in the area, which until now had been considered relatively safe.
Some 30,000 were living in displacement sites.
AFP footage from central Gaza showed a large plume of smoke rising over Deir al-Balah while a surveillance drone was heard buzzing overhead.
OCHA said nearly 88% of the entire Gaza Strip was now either under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarized zones, forcing the population of 2.4 million into an ever-shrinking space.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed 59,106 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry.
21 children dead from malnutrition in 72 hours, Gaza hospital says – as UN blasts Israel’s aid blockade
21 children dead from malnutrition in 72 hours, Gaza hospital says. UN chief Antonio Guterres warns Gaza’s ‘last lifelines’ are collapsing. humanitarian conditions deteriorating at an ‘accelerating’ pace. 15 people in Gaza have died due to starvation and malnutrition in the past day. UN blames Israel’s aid blockade for surging food prices in the territory. David Lammy warns Israel could face further sanctions, insisting the UK is ‘not complicit’ in what we’re seeing in Gaza. The Foreign Secretary said he ‘regrets hugely’ not being able to bring about the end of this ‘horrendous’ war, but stands by the government’s record.
Palestinians ferrying bags of food aid amid a major shortage leading to malnutrition and deaths. Picture: Alamy
By Jacob Paul
At least 21 Palestinian children have died from malnutrition in just 72 hours, according to medical sources in Gaza, as the UN blames Israel’s aid blockade for surging food prices in the territory.
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Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Shifa hospital in Gaza City, added that around 900,000 children in Gaza are suffering from hunger.
At least 70,000 of them are in a state of malnutrition, he warned.
Gaza’s health ministry said a further 15 people in Gaza have died due to starvation and malnutrition in the past day.
It brings the total number of these deaths to 101, including 80 children, according to the Hamas-run ministry.
It comes as the UN chief Antonio Guterres warns Gaza’s ‘last lifelines’ are collapsing, with humanitarian conditions deteriorating at an ‘accelerating’ pace.
In a statement UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson said Gaza’s humanitarian system ‘is being impeded, undermined and endangered’.
Read more: UK joins 27 nations calling for Israel to end war in Gaza as Lammy condemns ‘inhumane drip feeding’ of aid
Read more: Israel could face further sanctions, Lammy warns – as he insists UK ‘not complicit in what we’re seeing’ in Gaza
Children are dying from starvation in Gaza. Picture: Alamy
A UN spokesperson says Mr Guterres ‘deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition’ occurring in Gaza, adding: ‘The population in Gaza remains gravely undersupplied with the basic necessities of life’.
Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on 2 March, preventing aid deliveries from entering the territory until trucks were again allowed in again in May.
In a post on X, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said the shortages caused food prices to surge by 40 times.
It added that the aid stockpiled in its warehouses outside Gaza could feed ‘the entire population for over three months.’
Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Picture: Alamy
Speaking to LBC on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned Israel could face further sanctions, insisting the UK is ‘not complicit’ in what we’re seeing in Gaza.
He said he ‘regrets hugely’ not being able to bring about the end of this ‘horrendous’ war, but stands by the government’s record.
Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, he said: “We suspended arms sales that could be used in Gaza. We restored funding to UNRWA. We suspended a free trade agreement discussion with the Israeli government.
“Three packages of sanctions for violent settlers. We sanctioned Israeli government ministers. So we have acted and we will act further.”
Mr Lammy expressed his continued support for an “enduring ceasefire, not a pause”, adding: “This war has got to come to an end.”
Gaza hospital says 21 children died from malnutrition and starvation in 72 hours
21 children have died across the Palestinian territory in the past three days. “We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the people of Gaza,” says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
“These deaths were recorded at hospitals in Gaza, including Al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah and Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis… over the past 72 hours,” Mohammed Abu Salmiya told reporters.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday evening that “the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing” in Gaza, and that there were growing reports of children and adults with malnutrition.
Abu Salmiya told reporters that new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza’s remaining functioning hospitals “every moment”.
“We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the starvation inflicted on the people of Gaza,” he added.
The US says it is leaving UNESCO
The United States has left UNESCO, saying the UN agency is biased against Israel and promotes “divisive” causes. The head of the UN cultural agency UNESCO said she regretted the US decision to withdraw from the organisation, but added the move had come as no
“Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” the State Department spokeswoman said.
UNESCO head says US withdrawal regrettable, but ‘expected’
The head of the UN cultural agency UNESCO said she regretted the US decision to withdraw from the organisation, but added the move had come as no surprise.
“I deeply regret President Donald Trump’s decision to once again withdraw the United States of America from UNESCO,” Director-General Audrey Azoulay said.
“However regrettable, this announcement was expected, and UNESCO has prepared for it”.